


Work My Way Up

by WatchTheAntagonist



Series: Work My Way Up [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Big Brother Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne is a Small Assassin Child, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Gen, Jason Todd is a Talon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-25 09:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13831752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchTheAntagonist/pseuds/WatchTheAntagonist
Summary: In an alternate universe where Bruce never found or adopted his sons, they manage to find each other and build a family anyways. A family that has had no contact with the superhero community, though a significant amount with the super-villains of their world. That's about to change, as Wally West starts to connect Dick Grayson, a waiter at his favorite diner, to Nightwing, a participant in an underground fight ring and the informant who is going to be the key to bringing down a dangerous gang.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is going to be a longer fic than my last one, and might even turn into a series. I have a loose outline for this part and the next, though there may end up being as many as five installments. This takes place within an alternate universe, and I aged up the characters so that the story would make sense. Events from season one of Young Justice will probably be referenced. Backstories for the Batboys will be revealed, but probably not until later in the series. Reviews would be much appreciated, and please enjoy!

The diner off at the corner of Third and Washington wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination. The bacon was floppy, the coffee was weak, the eggs rubbery. Even the diner’s ‘specialty,’ their pancakes, were undercooked half the time and burnt the other half. Really the only thing the place had going for it was that it was cheap. Cheap, and conveniently located near the Zeta Tube that took Wally from Central City to the cave which served as his team’s base of operations.

                As a speedster, he really could get to any dinner in the city in a matter of seconds, but, after a long mission, he would see this one first. And he would end up walking through the door. Again.  

                Wally sighed as he let himself sink down into the cracked booth. He wasn’t sure what time it was, and he was avoiding the clock on the wall of the corner of the diner. If he didn’t look at it, he could pretend that he might be able to get a decent night’s sleep before his test tomorrow. He hadn’t thought that college was going to be that much more difficult than high school, but with his new obligations to their newly formed superhero team it was proving to be much more of a challenge. So, he ended up crashing in this stupid diner instead of going the extra few miles to his dorm.

                “What can I get for you tonight?” an overly cheerful voice asked him. Wally groaned and looked up. He hadn’t realized that he had dozed off.

                “Two full orders of pancakes, three sides of bacon, one of sausage, and a cinnamon roll,” he said, not bothering to open up the menu.

                “Okey dokey. Plain pancakes or chocolate chip?” the waiter said.

                “Chocolate. Duh,” Wally said. He guessed that the waiter must be new. At this point, most of the others knew Wally’s order by heart, so it was kind of weird actually having to say it out loud. Curious, Wally glanced up at the new guy.

                “Anything else I can get for you? Maybe something to drink?” the kid said. Dick, according to his nametag and assuming that wasn’t a cruel joke played by one of the other employees to haze the new kid. Wally noted his black hair and blue eyes briefly before focusing.

                “Dude! Where’d you get that bruise?” Wally asked. The teen laughed slightly and looked down, letting his longish hair fall in front of the purple-blue bruise that covered half his face. Wally realized that he may not have been as tactful as he could have been.

                “Ah, it was nothing,” Dick said, smiling slightly and looking to the side. “I just fell. No big deal.”

                “Alright,” Wally said. He gulped. He had heard that excuse enough times working as a superhero. He also knew better than to push it. He ate his meal in silence, faster than any normal person could but slow enough that exhausted workers at a 24-hour diner couldn’t be bothered to notice. As he was leaving, he left a large tip and scrawled the number of a domestic abuse hotline on the recite with a little note. Hesitating by the door, Wally watched Dick pick up the money and the recite, shoving it in his pocket without really looking at it.           

                “Wally!” one of the regular waitresses, Maria, called out, walking over to him. As there was a grand total of two other customers, she came over to say hi. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Hope Dick got everything right with your order.”

                “Yeah. Missed you though, sweetheart,” Wally smirked and the elderly woman laughed at him. “So, what’s his story? I haven’t seen him around.”

                “Really? Well, I suppose he usually works the day shifts, so you might not have come in contact with him. He’s a good worker. Three younger brothers, total brats, all of them, but they seem like good kids underneath all the sass,” she said. Wally laughed. If there was one constant in the world, it was that Maria would gossip. “Works at least three other jobs beyond this one, and I’m pretty sure only two of them are legal.” At this, Wally’s wide smile becomes a bit of a frown.

                “What do you mean by that?” he asked hesitantly. Maria leaned in closer, eager to share her, well, really, Dick’s, secrets.

                “I’ve heard that he competes in some underground illegal fights,” she whispered. Wally tried to hold in a bark of laughter. Dealing drugs he probably would have bought, but the kid was shorter than him, slim, and at least two years younger. Maria frowned, apparently sensing his disbelief. “I’m serious. I’ve seen him fight, you know. Not at wherever he goes to get paid for it, of course. But, about three weeks ago someone with a gun came in and demanded cash. Dick took him down, no problem.”

                “Wait, someone tried to rob you guys?” Wally said. This caught his attention.

                “Yeah, for like a minute. Then Dick dealt with it,” Maria said, eager to get back to gossip. “It was like some fancy kung-fu shit or something.”

                “Grayson!” Someone called out, barging into the restaurant.

                “Speak of the devil. There’s one of the little ones now,” Maria laughed. Wally nodded and watched as Dick made his way over to the kid, bending down so that they were at eye level and ruffling his hair. The teen’s face hardened at something the kid said, and he stood up quickly.

                “Maria, I need to head out. Can I end my shift a bit early?” Dick said, walking over. Maria frowned.

                “Sure, kid. It’s been quiet. Everything okay with your brothers?” she asked.

                “Timmy’s not feeling well. I need to head home to check on him,” he said.

                “Go ahead. You want me to come over later? I could bring soup,” Maria said. Wally smiled. As much as she liked to spread gossip, Maria was genuinely a good person.

                “Nah, we’re good. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dick said, seeming eager to leave. As soon as Maria gave him a nod, he practically bolted out the door, the little kid trailing right behind him and scowling at the world.

                “You’d better get going too,” Maria said. “If I remember correctly, you have an eight-a.m. class tomorrow.”

                Wally groaned. Apparently, he had complained about his schedule enough for her to memorize it. He said his goodbyes and left, the little bell on the door ringing as the wind slammed the door shut behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally goes to take down a gang and Nightwing enters the scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thank you to everyone who read and/or left kudos on the previous chapter, and especially to everyone who commented! I was so excited by the response I decided to post this early. To clarify ages: Dick is 17, though he's going to claim to be older. Jason is 15, Tim 11 and Damian 8. For the most part, the other characters are about 4 years older than they are in the first season of the show. I don't have a lot of experience writing fight scenes, but I hope you still enjoy!!

Wally hadn’t forgotten Dick. But, when a major gang war is brewing in your city, and your newly formed team of loosely organized superheroes who had problems with authority was dispatched to deal with it despite you wanting nothing more than to sleep for sixteen hours, details tend to slip your mind.

                “What’s up?” Wally, Kid Flash now, said, running up beside Aqualad.

                “We just received word that there is a major drug deal planned to occur here in an hour. We have been dispatched to deal with it,” Kaldur filled him in.

                “Coolio,” Wally said, sitting down cross-legged at the team leader’s feet. “When’s Miss M coming?”

                “Good to know where your thoughts are right before a mission,” Artemis scoffed at him. Wally spared her a glare and was about to respond when Aqualad interceded.

                “Miss M and Superboy are unavailable for this mission. It will just be the three of us,” he said.

                “We can handle it,” Wally said, more disappointed than concerned. “What’s the plan?”

                “We’ll have Artemis stay back and cover us from a distance. I want you to head in and scout out the area, then come back. Once they arrive, your priority will be disarming as many people as possible while I divert their attention,” Aqualad said.

                “Which you would have already known if you hadn’t arrived late,” Artemis said pointedly and Wally tried to hide his wince. Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped for a cup of coffee on the way here, but it was late, and he was tired, and the caffeine gave him a little bit of a boost before his metahuman metabolism made it all disappear.

                “Artemis,” Aqualad chastised unconvincingly.

                “Seriously. We’re in your city, you didn’t even have to take a zeta. And you’re a speedster, for crying out loud,” she grumbled.

                “Not the time,” said Aqualad.

                “I’ll just go scout now,” Wally said, zipping off before he could hear what was sure to be a long rant on his incompetence. It wasn’t even like he was that late.

                Scouting an abandoned warehouse wasn’t the most exciting thing he could do. Honestly, it was pretty much you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all with these kinds of buildings. Sometimes he thought that crime would have to decrease significantly if the city ever decided to do something about the decrepit buildings as criminals wouldn’t have anywhere to properly lurk. He checked off the familiar sights as he ran by. Stacks of crates with unknown contents? Check. Rats peeking out of large cracks in the drywall? Check. Smallish hole in the roof that let in a dramatic beam of moonlight to cast mysterious shadows? Check. Gang of hooded figures handing over a black briefcase to another gang?

                Shit. Apparently, the deal was going down earlier than they had thought.

                Wally started to zip out, reaching up to activate his communicator, sadly not a telepathic link with M’gann absent when the yelling started.

                “You think you can try to cheat me like that,” the man currently holding the briefcase bellowed out. “You’ll know better than to try that again.” He stepped back and gestured. Three of his bodyguards stepped forward and the one in a bright red hoodie cracked his knuckles.

                “Shit, guys, we need to get in here now,” Wally whispered urgently into his comm. “The deal is happening, and it looks like it’s going to get violent right about. . .shit!”

                Wally sped forward to one of the guys in the back who had just pulled out a gun, ignoring Kaldur and Artemis’ voices in his ear telling him to wait for backup. Wally didn’t really do waiting. He ran forward, leaving the cover of the shadows at the edges of the warehouse and entering the brighter, moonlit area. Then, three things happened at once. Red hoodie guy yanked the man who was presumably his boss out of the line of fire, tossing him unceremoniously onto the concrete and out of the way. Wally grabbed the gun out of the man’s hand and skid to a stop in between the two groups. And a masked figure wearing mostly black dropped down from the hole in the ceiling to land behind one of the groups.

                “What the—” Wally started, distracted for longer than he should have been when surrounded by enemies, but to be fair the rest of the group was as well. Everyone stared as the figure rose up from the crouch he had landed in and the moonlight danced off of the blue stripes that traveled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and across his chest. Whoever this guy was, he knew how to make an entrance.

                “Nightwing,” he heard one of the thugs murmur, and the confused whisper seemed to spread. Wally called out to the guy, but he barely seemed to take notice, eying Wally up and down before focusing his frankly quite intimidating glare on someone right behind Wally.

                “Listen, it’s great that you’re trying to help and all, but we really don’t need amateurs here, so,” Wally started. He figured from the mask that this ‘Nightwing’ must be a vigilante-wannabe. He must have a bit of a reputation in this area for at least the one guy to recognize him, but he really didn’t have any business. . .

                Before Wally could finish his sentence or his train of thought, Nightwing was moving. He leapt forward and somehow managed to land on top of one of the crooks, driving him to the ground and disarming him with one fluid motion. Another quick punch left the man unconscious, and a sharp kick brought down a second man right as he prepared to draw his weapon.

                “Okay. Not an amateur,” Wally said. He shrugged and entered the fray, targeting those closest to him while trying to keep track of the trail of unconscious bodies following Nightwing. The vigilante seemed to be trying to fight his way to the other side of the room. Wally moved to grab as many weapons as he could get his hands on. As long as guns weren’t in the picture, this would be simple enough. Especially since Kaldur and Artemis should be arriving. 

                “We’re here. What’s the situation?” Kaldur asked through the comm.

                “Bad guys. Fighting. The usual,” Wally said, ducking under a blow quicker than the thug could react and punching him in the stomach. “There’s some new guy in a mask. He appears to be friendly.”

                Nightwing managed to bash two thugs’ heads together and Wally winced slightly as their unconscious bodies dropped to the concrete.

                “Well, friendly in the sense that he appears to be fighting the bad guys,” Wally amended.

                “Yeah, got that,” Artemis said. Wally wasn’t sure where she was, but an arrow flew from somewhere and hit a guy behind him so he just waved in the general direction it had come from. Kaldur came in from behind the other group, on the side of the crowd opposite Nightwing. Soon, Wally had taken the rest of the guys down and the only one left standing was the red hoodie guy facing off against Kaldur, who seemed to be better trained despite being smaller than most of the other thugs.

                “Aqualad, I have him in sights. Duck!” Artemis said over the comms and Kaldur complied. The arrow soared towards him, and Wally was just about to congratulate himself on a job well done when, out of nowhere, Nightwing tackled the hooded guy out of the way of the arrow. Wally stared, unsure what was happening. Nightwing was on his feet in an instant, standing between them and the hoodie guy. The moonlight caught the gleam of knives in his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightwing and the Red Hood try to get out of a bad situation while the team tries to get information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I actually had a productive weekend, writing-wise, so this chapter is ready to be posted! Next chapter should be up by Wednesday, as I have a good start on it. As a consequence, nothing on the non-writing related side of my to-do list got done, but whatever. Thank you everyone who has/will comment on this! I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you Wednesday with a chapter from Dick's point of view:)

“Hood. Get out of here. Now,” Nightwing said, his eyes fixed on the three superheroes in front of him. Wally shuddered under the intensity of his gaze and started to be glad that Artemis had left her sniper position to join him and Kaldur.

                “Hell no! I’m not leaving you,” the guy in the red hoodie stood up and went to stand beside Nightwing only to be shoved back behind him.

                “Let’s all remain calm,” Kaldur said, holding his hands up in front of him. Wally thought that it probably would have been a more placating gesture if Nightwing and the Hood hadn’t already seen Kaldur fight with his Atlantian strength. Artemis didn’t even bother lowering her bow.

                “Hood. Leave,” Nightwing said in an almost growl. He took a step forward, lifting his knife to point at the heroes. Artemis’ arrow was instantly trained on him, and Wally shifted his gaze as well before thinking. It was odd, how he was acting now. Earlier, he had been on the thugs without giving them any chance to retaliate. Now, he seemed to be trying to draw their attention.

                “You don’t want to fight us,” Wally said aloud.

                “Like hell we don’t,” said Hood, drawing a knife of his own.

                “You just want to leave, right?” Wally said, directing the question at Nightwing. Hesitantly, the other man nodded.

                “We aren’t just going to let them go,” Artemis hissed at him, but Wally shrugged. He didn’t really want to be fighting this Nightwing guy, though he would if he had to.

                “Why not? They’re vigilantes, right? Heroes,” Wally said. Sure, they probably weren’t sanctioned by anyone, but they obviously had training. It seemed to him that Hood was undercover or something like that and Nightwing came in to bail him out.

                “What? You seriously think—” Hood grunted as Nightwing elbowed him.

                “Yes. Vigilantes. That is what we are,” Nightwing said.

                “See?” Wally gestured vaguely at the two. Artemis didn’t seem convinced.

                “He did help us fight,” Kaldur said hesitantly.

                “Yep. I was just staying in character, y’know,” said Hood. “For vigilante saving the city reasons. Very important.”

                “And we need to go now,” Nightwing said.

                “To do important vigilante stuff. Like, patrol and shit,” Hood gave them two thumbs up and the two started backing up, never letting their eyes leave the three heroes. A groan sounded from behind him, and Wally spun around to see one of the thugs try to rise to his feet. Apparently, Kaldur and Artemis had made the same motion, because when they turned back around Nightwing and Hood were gone.

                “Damn it,” Artemis cursed. “Who were they anyways?”

                “Ha. Well, they ain’t no vigalantes, that’s for damned sure,” said the thug who had just regained consciousness.

                “Explain,” Kaldur said, walking over to the thug. Wally winced as Artemis glared at him like the whole situation was his fault.

                “Nightwing and the Red Hood,” the guy said, sounding a lot more cooperative with Kaldur loaming over him. “They fight at the club our boss goes to all the time. Usually just Nightwing, but sometimes Hood will, too. I haven’t heard of them branching out into anything more than that, but apparently Hood wanted to earn a little extra cash or somethin’ cuz he went to Boss and asked for this gig.”

                “What is this club you are referring to?” Kaldur asked. The man looked baffled.

                “You know, the club. With the fights.”

                “Ah, yes. Thank you for clearing that up,” Artemis said, rolling her eyes.

                “People bet on the fights, people meet and make deals, people find jobs like this one,” he said. “Boss met with their boss and sent us here to make the deal. Should have known better than to take the job, though. Should have known that big brother Nightwing would show up if we were around Hood.”

                “He isn’t your boss?” Artemis asked.

                “They’re brothers?” Wally said, but was ignored.  

                “Big boss sent little boss and us out to get the stuff. He’s planning something big, I’d guess. Dunno what, though. Must be pretty big if he needs all those weapons.”

                “Weapons? We were informed that this was a drug deal,” said Kaldur.

                “Who’s your boss?” growled Artemis.

                “Shit, I can’t tell you that,” the man mumbled. What followed next was a steady stream of curses from Artemis, silent threats from Kaldur, and sort-of attempts at logical reasoning that didn’t really make all that much sense in Wally’s head and made even less sense once he spoke them aloud. None of which made any difference in the thief’s newly acquired resolve. None of them really inspired Batman-level fear in people, despite their best efforts.

                “Where can we find this underground fight club, then? You said your boss as well as other high-ranking criminals hang out there, so let us know where it is,” Wally said. It made perfect sense to him. They’d go, beat up a bunch of people, and find out what’s going on.

                “Dude, you can’t just waltz in. There’s, like, big-time people in there,” the criminal said.

                “Yes, it’s very nice of you to be concerned about our well-being after trying to shoot us,” Artemis said. She twirled an arrow in her hand in a way that was way more threatening than it should have any right to be.

                “I’m serious! I’m not gonna tell you anything else. Probably told you too much already,” the thug said. Wally shrugged and moved to handcuff him, as well as the other couple of guys who were trying to crawl away while their talker was distracting the heroes. A few moments of annoyingly slow questioning, and Wally was just ready to get out of there. After even Artemis gave up on getting more info, they tied up the rest of the crooks, contacted the authorities, and headed out. Hopefully, to bed.

                “Good work, team,” Kaldur said. Artemis and Wally snorted in unison, then glared at each other for daring to agree on something.

                “We didn’t get any solid information, just a collection of ominous rumors,” Wally pointed out.

                “Well, we did find out that our informant is shit, so there’s that,” Artemis said. Kaldur winced.

                “Yes, I suppose that he did not do well providing us with accurate information,” Kaldur admitted. “However, I do not really see any other alternative. It seems like this case is bigger than we thought, and we are going to need more information. I don’t think we have anyone else to turn to, unless we are going to involve the Justice League.”

                “Wait. We just need someone who’s on the inside of that fight club, right?” Wally said, stopping abruptly. His tired mind dragged up what Maria at the diner had told him earlier about her fellow employee. “I might actually know a guy who can help.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick chats with Jason, then receives a job offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is complete! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy! Next chapter should see some more action and should be up sometime this weekend.

"Jason, what the hell were you thinking?” Dick whispered urgently as soon as they were a safe distance away from the warehouse, maintaining a death grip on his brother’s hoodie as if he was afraid Jason would bolt the moment he let go.

                “How did you find me anyways?” Jason asked. Dick frowned, knowing his brother was trying to change the subject.

                “Tim followed you here and texted me the location after Damian got me from the diner. I sent him home as soon as I arrived. And, unlike some people, he actually listens to me,” Dick said. Probably not true, actually. If he knew Tim, he had stayed and watched the fight until he could be sure that they would be alright. The kid would be in bed by the time the two of them got home, though, so Dick could pretend. “That’s not the point.”

                “Damn. How does the kid even do that? I am a trained assassin, he shouldn’t be able to follow me like that,” Jason grumbled, trying unsuccessfully to remove his arm from Dick’s death-grip.

                “Not. The. Point.”

                “Fine. He offered cash. A lot. Enough to cover this month’s rent, and the bills that you’re freaking out about,” Jason said. Dick opened his mouth to protest. “Don’t lie to me. I know what’s going on.”

                “Jason, just because we are struggling a little bit possibly doesn’t mean you can just go join a gang,” Dick said, his voice rising in volume with every word.

                “I didn’t join a gang, I just helped them out with one job!”

                “One job that could have gotten you killed!” Dick shouted back, stopping walking and running his hand through his hair. “Or arrested. What do you think the Court would do if they saw your name in a police database?”

                “Nothing, because you said that Batman took them all down,” Jason glared at him. Dick winced. He had his doubts about how much of the Court of Owls had actually been destroyed, but he tried not to share those with his younger brothers. Just like he tried to keep their financial difficulties a secret. Which was probably part of why Jason was so pissed at him.

                “The League then. You know they’re going to try to get Dami back at some point. Or Tim’s parents could remember he exists and try to get him back. It’s not just your life you’re gambling with,” Dick almost hissed.

                “You think I don’t know that?” Jason yelled at him, taking a step towards him then stopping, taking a deep breath and continuing in a quieter tone of voice. “Everything we do is a risk. And you seem intent on keeping us away from it all, which just doesn’t make any fucking sense.”

                “I’m not trying to put you in a glass cage. I’m just trying to make it so you don’t get hurt,” Dick said, wincing a moment later as he recognized the contradiction in his statement as Jason raised an eyebrow at him.

                “You know, if you’d just let me drop out of school and work full-time that would solve at least three of our problems,” Jason said. Dick tried to cover up his sigh. They had had this conversation so many times he didn’t even really see a point to responding. He didn’t get why Jason kept bringing it up. Any fool could see that Jason loved school, especially English, and Dick wasn’t about to take that away from him.

                “Come on. I’m tired. Let’s just get home. Tim and Dami are probably worried about us by now,” Dick said. Jason mumbled something that was probably insulting or at the very least offensive, but followed along. The two didn’t talk much the rest of the way home, though not from a lack of effort on Dick’s part. They walked into their dingy apartment and were greeted by the sight of Tim curled up under a blanket on the couch pretending to be asleep while Damian stared them down, katana in hand.

                “I am glad to see that you are competent enough to deal with such an insignificant threat,” Damian said dismissively, placing his katana aside. Dick mentally translated the Damian-speak to ‘I’m happy and relieved you made it back safely’ and ruffled the kid’s hair before sending him to bed despite his protests. Jason whispered what seemed to be a threat for ‘ratting him out’ at Tim, who was still pretending to be asleep, before following Damian to their shared room.

                “Tim, I need all the information you have on Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Artemis,” Dick said casually while bending over to take his shoes off. Tim sat up somewhat guiltily and started typing on his tablet. The thing was ancient in terms of technology, apparently, but months of saving had gotten Tim the ability to hack their neighbor’s wifi password and have access to the Internet. “And, next time you want to convince me you’ve been here for hours, take your shoes off before you come in.”

                The next morning saw Dick walking bleary-eyed into the dinner for his morning shift. Maria was the only employee there, so he was on cooking-duty, a task that would have been daunting for him if their diner didn’t already have a reputation for sucky food. Maria took one look at him as he came into the kitchen, and handed him a cup of coffee without saying a word. Dick poured what could probably be considered an obscene amount of sugar into it and began drinking what was more like coffee-flavored sugary sludge when he heard the bell on the door ring as someone came in. Maria walked out to take their order while Dick stared at his coffee as if it could give him the answer to the mysteries of life.

                “Dick, I need to talk to you,” Maria said, coming into the kitchen.

                “Sure,” Dick said, forcing himself not to tense at the apprehension in her voice.

                “There are some. . .people out front. They want to talk to you.” Dick glanced to reaffirm the locations of the exits.

                “What kind of people?” he asked casually.

                “Heroes. They said the fight club thing you do is involved with something big. Something dangerous,” Maria said. “They want to help. I. . .I think you should talk to them.”

                “I suppose I could do that,” Dick said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, sending a quick text to Tim. ‘nice day go 2 park.’ Code. It meant for him and his brothers to get out of the apartment and wait to hear back from Dick. “Though, it might be nice to know how they even knew about my fights.”

                “Ah. Yes,” Maria winced. She knew that he knew the most likely answer to that. It had been a risk telling her, but there were only so many time using a random mugging as an excuse would work before it got ridiculous.

                “I’ll talk to them, okay?” Dick said. He eased his way around the corner. They were superheroes, so they probably wouldn’t try to hurt him or anything if he didn’t attack first, and he needed to know how much they knew. Specifically, how much they knew about his brothers. And if he stood right next to an exit while they had that conversation no one was going to blame him.

                “Hey. Dick Grayson, right?” Kid Flash asked. They seemed to be letting him take the lead in the questioning, probably had one or both of the others waiting outside, which seemed off to Dick. From what Tim had found on the team, he would have put Kid Flash outside to stop a potential escape and had Aqualad do the questioning.

                “Yeah. What do you want?” Dick said. No need to hide anxiety, they would expect him to be nervous. Best to get directly to the point.

                “You’re not in trouble. We need information,” Kid Flash said. Dick was careful not to show any surprise. “We know that you have participated in the underground fights that are going on, and we need to know more about them. There’s a mob boss who is planning some sort of attack and we think he’s coordinating it from there.”

                “Wow. That’s pretty scary stuff,” Dick said. He weighed his options. It would probably be best to play along, bait them with some information, then bolt for it and get the hell out of this city. It would be a pain starting over somewhere else, but they can and have done so. That was the sensible option, but he had actually heard some whispers about what was going to happen. Wasn’t he at least partially responsible to try and do something? But it wasn’t like he could give the heroes a tour; he didn’t fight as Dick Grayson. Which he still needed to figure out if they suspected. “I don’t know much, though. I just fight every once in a while, when I need the cash.”

                “I was told that we can give you some money for a tip. Even if it’s just introducing us to someone who would know more,” Kid Flash said, smiling eagerly. “Like, this Nightwing guy we heard some thugs talking about. We saw him the other night, and he seemed really good.”

                “And, if I could arrange for you to meet Nightwing,” Dick said. He stood up a little straighter. “You’d pay him for his help as well?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightwing and the Team begin their mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you again to everyone who's commented/left kudos. I've been so excited by the response to this story! This chapter is pretty dialogue-heavy, but the next chapter should have some more action.

“Are we really sure we can trust this Nightwing guy?” Connor said for what was probably the twentieth time so far that evening.

“Dick said that he would show. And that he’d be willing to help if we paid him,” Wally responded. Again.

“And we can trust this Dick guy?”

“Probably. I mean, he seemed pretty trustworthy.”

“Though, it never hurts to be on guard,” Kaldur interjected.

“Which is why we got here way earlier than we needed to and have just been sitting around,” Wally finished with a smirk.

“Yeah, two hours is a long time to wait. Aren’t you getting tired?” a new voice said from the shadows of the building.

 _M’gann, Artemis, be ready. He’s here_ Kaldur said through the mindlink M’gann had created.

“Nightwing,” Wally said, stepping forward. They had decided that he would be the one taking point on this as he was the one Dick had probably told Nightwing about. “It’s good to see you again.”

“The pleasure is all mine. I was told that you have an offer for me,” Nightwing said with a broad smile.

“Yeah. Um. . .how much did Dick fill you in?” Wally asked, not entirely sure how to proceed.

“I know everything he knows,” Nightwing said with a smirk.

“Great! So, yeah. Could you tell us about the fight club stuff?” Wally said eagerly.

“I can do you one better, actually,” Nightwing said. “I’ll take you there. But it’s going to cost you.”

“Alright,” Wally said, after Kaldur nodded confirmation. “When do we go?”

“We could go tonight,” Nightwing offered. Another glance at Kaldur confirmed this as a possibility, if not an ideal one. “I’m scheduled to fight anyways. I could introduce you to the manager there. If something big is going on with more weapons than usual involved, he’ll probably want it stopped. Especially if you are willing to pay him as well as you’re paying me and Dick.”

“Uh. . .I don’t know if we want to. . .” Wally hesitated, glancing at Kaldur once again.

“You can go under cover then, if you’d rather. I could take a couple of you in as new fighters, or as spectators,” Nightwing interjected.

“That seems like it could work,” Wally said at Kaldur’s nod. “Is the Red Hood coming?”

“No, he’s grounded,” Nightwing said with a shrug. “You ready?”

“Sure,” Wally said. “How are we getting there?”

Nightwing pointed up at the rooftops. He smirked.

“Do try to keep up.”

 

They arrived at the club an hour later, after changing into less-obvious costumes though keeping masks. According to Nightwing, masks were pretty much standard for the fighters and a good portion of the observers there. Once there, Nightwing escorted them through a back-passage they never would have found on their own until they stood face to face with the manager. The short, balding man glared at them skeptically. Wally gulped, trying to hide his nervousness. The man wouldn’t have looked intimidating in the slightest, if the two bodyguards behind him hadn’t been glaring down at them.

“Nightwing,” one of the guards said.

“Hey, Duke. How’s Catherine?” Nightwing said, flashing a smile. To Wally’s surprise, the goon returned the smile with one of his own that was only slightly terrifying.

“She’s good. She got a B plus on her last test,” he said. “Thanks for lending Red Robin to us for tutoring.”

“Of course, he’ll be glad to hear she’s doing well,” Nightwing said with a grin.

“Who’s Red Robin,” Wally tried to whisper to Kaldur, in case he had missed something that he was supposed to know, but Kaldur just shrugged.

“Nightwing,” the manager interrupted, and the guard returned to his statue-like intimidating pose. “Who are these people?”

“Runaways,” Nightwing said with a shrug that seemed to somehow convey the idea that he hadn’t bothered to ask anything more than that. “They want to fight. I told them I’d introduce you.”

“Not tonight,” the manager said. He rubbed a handkerchief across his forehead and Wally was instantly put on guard. “In fact, today’s not a good day for you to fight, either. Are the kids here?”

“No, they’re home. I told them I was just working at the diner tonight, so they didn’t try to follow me,” Nightwing said, seeming concerned. “What’s going on?”

“There’s going to be a big weapons deal going on. They’re recruiting fighters, and I know you don’t want to be involved with that. Best just go home,” he said. “They’re getting really paranoid about who’s here, too. Anyone who isn’t with them is against them, know what I mean? And there’s a rumor flying around that you fought a couple of their boys and interrupted a weapons deal.”

“Shit,” Nightwing said. He ran his hand through his hair and his face looked pale.

“If you knew a way to help stop this deal and whatever they plan to do with the weapons from taking place. . .”Kaldur began hesitantly.

“Hell yeah, I want it stopped. I pay people to punch each other, not to watch people get shot,” he said. He waved his hand in a dismissive ‘what are you going to do about it kind of way. Kaldur looked at Wally and nodded. Wally took his cue and unzipped his sweatshirt to reveal his yellow uniform underneath.

“Kid Flash. Here to help,” he said. The rest of his team followed suit and introduced themselves to the manager, his jaw getting closer and closer to the floor with every new name.

“That’s great and all,” the manager said after recovering his composure. “But I still can’t just introduce new fighters with all the tension that’s going on tonight. I could get you in the crowd, but I don’t know if that will get you close to them.”

“I’m still on the scheduele, right?” Nightwing said, waving his hand as if insulted that people had stopped paying attention to him. “I’ll find out what’s going on then report back so you can do your superhero thing. And you can be in the audience in case anything goes wrong.”

“We can’t ask you to put yourself at risk for us,” Wally said. Nightwing sighed.

“Apparently, I’m at risk if these gangs are out there. So, unless I want to pack up and leave, this is probably the best option,” Nightwing said, deadly serious. Then, he smirked. “Besides, it’s not like I’m doing it for free.”

“We’ll give you a communicator,” Kaldur said, handing one over. “Call the moment something goes wrong. And Miss Martian will go invisible and follow you so you have immediate backup if needed.”

“As long as you don’t interfere with his fight,” the manager said.

“But if he’s in danger,” M’gann began hesitantly. Wally nodded along with her objections. It seemed logical that if their target was trying to hurt Nightwing they might try to do so through his opponent.

“No need to worry about that,” Nightwing said with a cocky grin. He reached up and stretched while he waved and walked from the room, ignoring their objections.

“The regulars here, the ones who know what’s going on, they don’t bet on whether or not Nightwing can win the fight,” the manager said with a knowing smirk at the Team’s mix of worry and confusion. “They bet on whether or not he’s been paid to lose.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long. I've been sick, and then scrambling to catch up on everything I didn't get done while I was sick. But it's here now, and I really hope you enjoy it! I'm thinking two more chapters in this installment, then I'll get started on the next part of the series. I'm hoping to get the next chapter published by next Thursday, but I'm not going to make any promises. Thank you for reading!

“So, do we actually have a plan for when this inevitably goes horribly wrong or are we just going to wing it?” Artemis asked over the mind link as she skirted around the edge of the crowd to try to get a better view of the fighting rink.

“Well, Nightwing’s supposed to fill us in when something happens, so that’s sort of a plan, right?” Wally replied. He could almost feel Artemis mentally rolling her eyes at him from the other side of the room.

“So, we have to just wait around?” Superboy growled, impatient.

“Hey, guys? Someone offered me two hundred bucks to switch places with some other guy and fight first,” Nightwing said over his commlink.

“Well, that didn’t take very long,” Wally commented.

“Who was it? Did they get threatening when you turned them down?” Kaldur asked.

“Well, I didn’t say I turned them down. . .” Nightwing said.

“Sorry, what?” Kaldur said, but he was interrupted by the lights in the club dimming, except for a spotlight on the arena in the center. An announcer’s voice rang out.

“Now entering the ring, the one, the only, Nightwing!” No one bothered to open up the ring for Nightwing to enter, and he instead jumped up in the air and flipped over to land in the ring. The crowd applauded, the cheers getting even louder as Nightwing waved to the crowd, jumping from foot to foot.

“So, what’s the plan, now? Someone please tell me we have a plan,” Wally said. He tried to make his way closer to the fight, but the crowd had closed in around the ring the moment Nightwing’s name had been introduced so it was impossible to get through the crush of bodies.

“And his opponent,” the announcer said, pausing for dramatic effect. “You know his as the Mangler!”

“Crap,” Artemis said. “This does not sound good.”

“I mean, it could be alright. After all, it’s not like anyone would ever pick a nice sounding fighter name. He probably won’t be any big deal,” Wally said. The Mangler stepped out into the ring, towering over Nightwing. Nightwing smiled at him and made some sort of comment. The Manger’s only response was to glare down at him and crack his knuckles. “Yeah, never mind. This is bad.”

The announcer called for the fight to begin, and the crowd roared almost loud enough to drown out the Mangler’s barrage of curses in response to something Nightwing had said and Nightwing’s responding laughter.

“And he’s provoking him,” Kaldur observed. Wally gulped, and almost wanted to look away as he saw the Mangler raise his fist and bear down on Nightwing. He wanted to scream out some sort of warning, as if Nightwing didn’t know what was happening. Sure, he had seen Nightwing fight at the warehouse, but the Mangler was massive and without the mysterious glow of the moon Nightwing seemed a lot less formidable. Besides, Wally hated that there wasn’t anything he could do. He had to just watch Nightwing take the hit. . .or, completely dodge it and use the momentum to throw the other fighter to the ground as it actually happened. Wally tried not to act too surprised. After all, there was a reason they were trusting Nightwing with this. It was just weird seeing someone on his team fight when he couldn’t do anything to help. Especially someone without superpowers. Probably. Wally wasn’t exactly sure what Nightwing’s deal was.

The fight continued, and Wally watched. It didn’t seem like Nightwing was taking the fight seriously, unless the constant talking was some sort of strategy. Wally wasn’t close enough to hear, but it didn’t look like he was drilling the other fighter for information on his gang. Or, if he was, it wasn’t very successfully as the Mangler wasn’t responding beyond screaming and trying to punch him.

“Movement on the right,” Superboy told them. Wally resisted the urge to whip his head in that direction and instead let his gaze drift that way more naturally to see a congregation of men with poorly hidden weapons gathering and staring out at the crowd.

“They’re watching Nightwing. Seems like they’re getting impatient,” Miss Martian said.

“Not good,” Wally said. He turned back to the fight only to see Nightwing fall down under one of the Mangler’s punches, hitting the ground. “Very not good. Miss M, can you get to him?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how I can help without revealing I’m here,” M’gann said, invisible.

“Wait, don’t do anything yet,” Artemis said.

“What do you mean don’t do anything?” Wally said, once again trying to push his way closer to the fight. Nightwing took another hit, going down.

“That hit shouldn’t have knocked him down. None of the Mangler’s punches have done any real damage,” Artemis said.

“Meaning what?” Kaldur asked.

“He’s doing this on purpose,” Artemis said. Wally could hear her scoff. “He’s putting on a show for the crowd.”

“How can you be sure?” Wally asked. He winced as Nightwing was thrown up against the wall of the rink. It looked plenty real to him.

“Trust me. I know the most about hand-to-hand combat here. If Nightwing wanted to, this would have been over ages ago,” Artemis said. Something almost like grudging respect crept into her voice. “He’s good.”

“We’ll hold off,” Kaldur confirmed.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to have that option,” Connor said. The gang members were moving in. “It looks like they’re going for the announcer’s stand.”

“That would make sense,” Kaldur said. Wally looked around, nervous. “They may be intending to put forth some sort of ultimatum. Join us or die.”

“And who wants to bet Nightwing would make the perfect example that they’re serious,” Artemis said. Wally gulped. Suddenly, a voice crackled in on their comms.

“Listen, there’s one exit right next to the ring. It’s easily defensible, and right next to the majority of the crowd. If you can secure it, you can evacuate the people not involved before things get bad,” Nightwing said. Wally wondered how he was managing to contact them without any pause in his fight, but pushed that train of thought aside and began working his way through the crowd with renewed determination. “I’m assuming you’ve noticed the gang getting ready?”

“We’re on it,” Kaldur said. He must have already been near the exit. “What is the best way to alert people to leave?”

“Oh, I can handle that,” Nightwing said. Wally finally got next to the exit and nodded at Kaldur. He turned towards the rink in time to get a front-row seat for Nightwing using his opponent as a springboard to launch himself into the announcer’s booth. The announcer didn’t look overly surprised and just handed over the mic. “Ladies, gentlemen, and others I’m sorry to announce that we need to evacuate right now. Only the exit right next to the rink, though,”

“I have the other exit near the bathrooms secured,” M’gann added.

“Yes, and the exit near the bathrooms,” Nightwing pointed helpfully. “I’m sorry to say that the others are currently guarded by heavily armed bad guys. Please proceed in a calm and orderly fashion.”

Predictably, there was chaos. But, somehow, all the civilians were evacuated relatively untrampled while the heroes held off the gunmen, so Wally was going to count it as a win.

Wally spun around as he finished dealing with the gunmen around the exit he was guarding. To his surprise, he saw Nightwing. He had been expecting the guy to leave with the others, as he had more than fulfilled his role. Instead, he was fighting, moving almost like a dancer from one opponent to the next. Artemis had been right. He had been holding back during his earlier fight. In fact, the Mangler was slumped unconscious in the announcer’s booth, where he had followed Nightwing. Apparently Nightwing had dealt with him without Wally even noticing what had happened.

Wally tore his eyes away from Nightwing, who was truly something to watch fighting, and focused instead on his own battles, moving from group to group disarming and subduing those who were fighting. After all the trouble they put into finding this place, it seemed more than a bit anticlimactic.

“Is that everyone?” Wally asked, using the comm instead of the mindlink for Nightwing’s benefit.

“I think we’re clear,” said Artemis. Wally smiled and relaxed. Another job well done, and done in time for him to get back and finish up his essay. He stretched his arms, and felt something slam into him, knocking him to the ground just as the sound of gunshots rang out.

“Shit!” Artemis called out. Wally heard a cry from behind him, presumably whoever had fired at him. “Wally!”

“I’m okay. Is it clear?” Wally asked.

“Yes. Definitely yes this time,” Artemis said. Wally stood up, and looked over at Nightwing, who was getting up from the floor next to him. It probably took him longer to put together what happened than in should have.

“Did you just save my life?” he asked. Nightwing stood up and glared at him.

“I want a raise,” Nightwing said, blood seeping through his fingers as he clutched a wound on his left arm.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! New chapter, and slightly important thing to keep in mind. I've had a couple of people ask me this, and it might confuse people so I need to mention that in this universe, Bruce Wayne is still Batman and still is Damian's father, but neither he nor Damian know about this. All Damian, and therefore Dick and the others, know is that Damian's father was a strong warrior. Hopefully that clarifies things, especially Dick's reactions in this chapter. Also, sorry (not sorry) for last chapter's cliffhanger! And for this chapter's cliffhanger, though I don't think this one is as bad. Anyways, hope you enjoy, and thank you to everyone who has left kudos or comments:)

Dick thought that everyone was making too big a deal out of him getting shot. The bullet had barely grazed him, after all. He probably would need stitches, but, as he had repeatedly told the team, that was something he could do himself at home. Preferably before his brothers found out. And he had work tomorrow early, so he really wanted to catch a couple hours sleep before that. And yet, despite his protests, he found himself being taken along to some secret superhero base.

                Admittedly, this was partially his fault. He may have tried to guilt-trip the heroes into giving him more money only to have them decide that they needed to personally make sure he was okay. That wasn’t going to stop him from complaining, though.

                “Can you please just drop me off at home?” Dick tried one more time. “My brothers are going to freak if I’m not there when they get up.”

                “We’re taking you to the infirmary,” Kaldur said, once again. He had stopped trying to argue his reasoning by this point and was just ordering him. Dick sighed louder than was necessary and followed Kaldur to the infirmary.

                “Fine, but I’m totally making you buy me a new sweatshirt. This one was my favorite,” Dick said, gesturing at the black hoodie with the blue streak across the chest that was splattered with blood. Admittedly, most of the blood was not his.

                Dick looked around the base. After all, it wasn’t everyday that one got to see something like that. The training facility in particular caught his eye as they walked past. It was definitely better equipped than the little gym next to their apartment that, through a combination of teaching a few lessons and Tim doing the taxes, he and his brothers had earned the right to use.

                “Whoa, you guys have a trapeze?” Dick said, a smile crossing his face. His hands twitched. It had been so long since he had flown.

                “Yeah, it’s pretty new. None of us actually use it,” Kid Flash, Wally West according to Tim’s notes, said. “It was pretty weird. Batman had it installed a couple weeks ago. About the same time he assigned us to the case we’ve been working on, actually.”

                “Is that so,” Dick said, focusing on anything but the team. His stomach sank. Trying to be subtle, he glanced around, looking for a way to get out. There was no way that this could be a coincidence.

                “Yeah, it was pretty weird. Like, he’s not usually super involved with the team, but he wanted us on this mission for some reason,” Wally shrugged. “You don’t really question it, though. I mean, he’s Batman.”

                Dick followed Wally, swiftly changing the subject to something more neutral. He kept talking, though his mind wasn’t really following what he was saying. Just focusing on trying to find a way out. He probably couldn’t leave through the teleporter things they had come in on—one of the others would need to authorize him to use it and he wasn’t confident he could get through the security before someone realized what he was doing. He’d play along, let them patch him up needlessly, then get out as soon as an opportunity to do so without raising too much suspicion arose.

                This resolution made it a little harder to sit still and play the obedient victim while they stitched up his arm, and definitely made it harder to brush of questions about the other scars on his arms, made visible when he removed his sweatshirt.

                “Well, this has been fun,” Dick said, forcing a smile on his face. “You can get in contact with me through Dick if you need something else. And to get me a new hoodie.” He would admit that at this point he should probably let that one go, but it had been his favorite so he felt he owed its memory an attempt. He started walking in the direction that he knew the transporter was. He had paid attention coming in. Wally followed along with him, probably intending to see him off. He couldn’t resist one last look at the trapeze when they walked by. One glance was all it took for him to see the dark cloaked figure standing underneath the trapeze.

                “Oh, hey, Batman. Didn’t realize you were stopping by,” Wally greeted. Dick froze, looking for an exit. He didn’t see one, not without having to get past all the superhero kids. And Batman.

                “Leave. I am going to speak with Nightwing,” Batman growled. Dick didn’t ask how he knew his name. He tried to somehow broadcast his panic in order to get Wally to stay but not enough to let Batman see the weakness.

                “I was just going. I need to get home,” Dick said, trying to make his way towards the door without turning his back on Batman.

                “I need to speak with you,” Batman ordered.

                “I’m injured,” Dick held up his bandaged arm for emphasis. He thought about mentioning that he had family waiting for him to get home, but on the off chance that Batman didn’t already know about his brothershe didn’t want to let him have that particular bargaining chip.

                “From my information, you’ve been injured worse, Richard Grayson,” Batman said. Dick froze. This was not good.

                “Wait, like Dick Grayson? From the diner?” Wally asked, frowning and trying to piece everything together. Both Batman and Dick ignored him.

                “I’m not Talon,” Dick hissed, backing up into the wall. His heart was beating too fast. he had to calm down. Emotions were not an advantage in a standoff like this, but there was really only one thing that the Batman of Gotham could want to talk to him about and he didn’t want to. He wasn’t going to argue that he should escape justice for what he had done as the Court’s assassin, but he couldn’t leave his brothers.

                “You are not,” Batman said. Dick started. “Kid Flash, leave. Now. I just want to speak with him.”

                “What’s a talon?” Wally asked. Batman glared. Wally shut up and left. The moment he was out of sight, Dick’s knives were in his hands. He debated attacking first, but if there was a chance that he could get out of this without fighting. . .

                “I’m not Talon,” he reiterated. Batman nodded at him but didn’t say anything else. He didn’t seem to be preparing to attack, but Dick wasn’t letting his guard down. Under Batman’s stare, however, his fervent denials weakened. He felt like he couldn’t lie to this man. Dick’s shoulders slouched, just slightly, but he knew that Batman had seen it. “Not anymore.”

                “I know. You got away. And the information you sent to me was instrumental in taking the Court down,” Batman said. The words could have almost been praise. “Why did you not come in person? I could have helped you.”

                “You weren’t there before. When my parents fell,” Dick said. He wasn’t sure why that was the only thing he could think of to say. There had been other reasons, of course. He hadn’t really been trusting of anyone at that point, not even Jason, who had escaped with him. And he hadn’t wanted to stay in Gotham after everything that had happened there, even if he had to basically drag Jason out of his hometown. Then there was everything that happened in Bludhaven before they left that town behind as well. Afterwards, especially after the Court had been destroyed, he maybe should have gone to Batman or someone else. Might have helped with the whole League of Assassins debacle, though he couldn’t really regret that one too much because it led to him finding Damian and Tim.

                “I’d like to offer you a job working for Young Justice,” Batman said. Dick started. “You have proven yourself to be useful to the team. And I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement, with a contract and pay.”

                “Why?” Dick asked, stunned.

                “I wasn’t there before. I am now.”

                Batman reached out his hand to shake on it, and Dick mirrored the gesture, then hesitated.

                “I killed for them, you know,” Dick said in almost a whisper. Batman stiffened, but didn’t withdraw.

                “Do you intend to do so again?”

                “Never.”

Just then, the alarm went off.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is the last chapter of part one. I know that some of you called this, and I hope it lives up to expectations! Thank you for reading:)

Jason was _pissed._ They had just had the whole conversation about being careful around heroes and the dangers of being found out by them. When both of them had calmed down, they had managed to have a civilized discussion about not keeping secrets or taking unnecessary risks. Then, literally the next day, Dick tells them that he’s going to work at the diner only for Maria to call and ask about what had happened with the superheroes who had come to talk with him. And to accidentally reveal that he wasn’t on the night shift at the diner that night. Half an hour later, Tim had sorted through a bunch of security and traffic camera footage and found a video from two hours before then that showed Dick meeting up and being all buddy-buddy with the same group of heroes they had gotten into a fight with the previous night. Another ten minutes, and they had a more recent video of Dick being led by the heroes into some crazy Star Trek teleporter. And he was hurt.

                The trip and subsequent wait for Tim to hack the teleporter to bring them to the base had seemed to take too damn long.

                The alarms had gone off as soon as they had entered the base. Tim had gone pale and started cursing to himself. Damian started screaming at him for his incompetence. Jason didn’t correct either of them. That was Dick’s job. Jason didn’t really mind the alarms going off, either. That meant that people were coming, people who he could fight. Which was definitely preferable to just waiting for something to happen.

                The Speedster rounded the corner first, predictably, and leapt forward right as the guy slid to a halt in front of them. He should have pressed his advantage, but instead he looked at them and started to say something. It wasn’t a lot of time, but it was enough. Jason knocked his feet out from under him, pinning him to the floor and holding one of his knives to Wally’s throat.

                “Where. Is. Nightwing,” he growled, his face inches from Wally’s. The other man’s eyes were wide.

                “He’s okay,” Wally said quickly. Jason glared at him through the opening in the red ski mask he wore underneath his hoodie. He could feel Wally gulp against his blade. “You’re his brother right? Jason?”

                “How did you know that?” Jason hissed. He felt his hands shake slightly and compensated by increasing the pressure on the knife. A thin trickle of blood started to leak down Wally’s throat, but Jason couldn’t bring himself to care. There was no way that Dick would give over any information about his brothers willingly. “What did you do to him?”

                “Hey, hey. Calm down,” Wally said. “We didn’t do anything. Maria at the diner mentioned your name. Figured if Dick is Nightwing that would mean that Jason was Red Hood, right?”

                “What did you do to the old crone at the diner?” Damian said from behind him, pulling out his katana. He was supposed to be watching for the rest of the heroes arriving, but he had a soft-spot for Maria because she lets him play with her dog.

                “Nothing! Again, we’re the heroes. Batman know that Nightwing was Dick Grayson, and I just put stuff together from there, I promise!” Wally said. Jason released the pressure a little. They had suspected after the League of Assassins thing that Batman might have been able to find out who they were from Talia, but it had never been confirmed and he had kind of pushed it to the back of his mind. It was feasible, and, if he made himself calm down enough to think about it, made more sense. Dick could last longer than these couple hours under torture. Jason had seen him do it. Wally seemed to sense that he was relaxing a little bit. “Dick should be coming out here pretty soon actually. We were just about to send him home. I can take you to him if you let up with the knife.”

                “As if we’d be stupid enough to do that,” Tim scoffed from behind him.

                “You are an effective hostage, presuming your team doesn’t just recognize your uselessness and give up on you,” Damian added on.

                “Let go of him,” a blond girl said, aiming a bow and arrow at him. Artemis. Behind her came Aqualad, who he also recognized from the warehouse, as well as a muscular kid with a black t-shirt bearing Superman’s emblem. He suspected that Miss Martian was around somewhere as well.

                “Come any closer and I slit his throat. Where’s Nightwing?” he said.

                “Don’t do anything reckless,” Aqualad said, his voice calm.

                “Stand down, Hood,” said a familiar voice. He looked away from the heroes to see Nightwing striding in, still masked, though missing his hoodie. Jason zeroed in on the bandages wrapped around his arm. “Let him go.”

                “Fine,” Jason said in a way that sounded too much like a sulky teenager even to his own ears. He stood up, ‘accidentally’ stepping on Kid Flash as he did so, and went to stand by Tim and Damian. He kept his eyes on Nightwing, waiting for any signal that he was in trouble and needed them to fight.

                “So, everyone, these are my brothers,” Dick said casually. “Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin.”

                The superheroes looked a little baffled by the introduction and mostly just stared at them. Wally gave a slight wave from his place on the floor.

                “How did you get here?” Artemis asked. Jason shrugged. Honestly, he wasn’t sure. He had just told Tim to do his techno shit and had followed along.

                “Magic,” Tim said, totally serious. The team looked surprised, and apprehensive. Dick sighed.

                “Tt,” Damian said. “As if we would need magic to track down your poorly concealed base of operations.”

                “Hacked a bunch of cameras to see where you went,” Tim said. Then, because he’s a smartass know-it-all who can’t keep his mouth shut, he added on to that before Jason could get him to shut up. “Artemis Crock.”

                “How do you know my name,” she said. Tim grinned in a way that made Jason proud of the amount of time he had spent trying to teach the kid to be slightly more intimidating.

                “Artemis Crock,” he repeated. “Wally West. Kaldur. Connor Kent. And. . .” he turned dramatically and pointed to what seemed to be an empty corner. “M’gann the Martian.” Jason grinned. The kid was nothing if not observant.

                “Is this a threat,” Kaldur asked as M’gann sheepishly faded back into view.

                “Not at all!” Dick said, at the same time as Damian nodded confirmation and pointed his sword at Kaldur. Dick glared at him until he lowered it, and Jason would have laughed if he wasn’t still trying to be threatening. “It’s just Red Robin’s hobby.”

                “His hobby,” Wally sounded disbelieving as he finally got up off the floor.

                “Yeah,” Dick seemed a little sheepish, which irritated Jason. It wasn’t like they had anything to apologize for. “It’s one of the least destructive hobbies my brothers have, so I try to encourage it. Anyways, what are you even doing here?”

                Jason was flabbergasted. Wasn’t it obvious? But it was Damian who spoke first.

                “We’re here to rescue you. Now, show me which one of them has injured you and I will deal with it,” Damian said. Before Dick could respond, Wally interrupted.

                “Wait, none of us hurt him! He was fighting with us. He saved my life,” he said. Damian turned on him.

                “So your incompetence lead to the injury? I will see that you are punished!” He stepped forward before Dick stopped him.

                “Robin, stop,” Dick sighed. “He didn’t do anything wrong. I’m fine. Let’s just head home.”

                “What? No!” Damian said.

                “You have school tomorrow. It’s past curfew. For both of you,” Dick said, his gaze drifting to Tim. Jason wanted to laugh again. Sometimes, he didn’t know why Dick even tried. “And Jason, where did you get a gun?”

                “What gun?” Jason said innocently, trying to readjust his leather jacket so it was better covered.

                “You know what?” Dick said. “I don’t even want to know. We’re going home.”

                “Do you need time to consider my offer?” a voice said. Jason spun around, startled. Then, he was face to face with the goddamn Batman.

                “Jesus!” he said. He glared at the team for finding his reaction amusing, then at Nightwing for apparently knowing Batman was here and not finding that important enough to mention.

                “Yeah. Thanks for letting me deal with them,” Dick said, waving vaguely in their direction and ignoring their glares and protests. He paused. “I’m going to accept.”

                “Accept what?” Jason asked.

                “See you guys!” Dick said, smiling at the team. “Tim, activate the teleporter thingie.”

                Tim did just that. He stepped through, and Dick grabbed both Jason and Damian by the arm and pulled them through with him.

                “What offer was he talking about?” Jason asked, the moment they got to the other side. Damian and Tim also waited for the answer.

                “He offered me a job. Working with Young Justice,” Dick said, after a moment’s pause.

                “No!” Damian was the first to comment. “No. You can’t do that.”

                “And why not?” Dick said, allowing a little of his temper, familiar to Jason but usually kept under a shorter leash around Dami and Tim to seep into his tone.

                “You worked with them once and got hurt,” Tim pointed out.

                “Why?” Jason asked. Dick shrugged.

                “It’s just something that I need to do,” he said. Tim and Dami started voicing objections, but Jason paused to think about it.

                “Is this some shitty attempt at redemption or something?” he asked.

                “Maybe,” Dick smiled. It was fake, like most of his smiles. Fooled most everyone, though. Even Tim and Damian most of the time. But Jason could always tell.

                “Well, nothing we say is going to stop you,” he said. “But you’re going to have to take us along.”

                Jason watched Tim and Damian nod affirmation as Dick launched into another long, hypocritical lecture about how all of them should avoid any and all danger as Tim and Damian countered his arguments. Maybe something big in their lives had just changed, but the important things had stayed the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I did it! This concludes part one of this story, which is mostly just set up. I'm pretty excited for part two, which will include, in no particular order, some events from season one, batgirls, and the return of the Court of Owls. I need a week or so to finalize the plot of part two, so I will start posting that as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, I'm going to be finishing up some one-shots that I've been working on and post those, so feel free to check those out if they sound interesting. Thank you all for reading this, I've had a blast writing it, and I hope you come back for part two!


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